“The Urn of Shades” is one big bottle of bad. The magic behind the Urn is designed to absorb and contain personal demons and stresses by inscripting key words, names, or symbols in small sun bleached bones and then placing the bones within the Urn. Once the bone is inside the Urn the energy attributed to it is channeled into to the Urn before the stopper is place back on it trapping the demon and energy inside.
Within the process of working with the Urn of Shades there are several steps that are key to the practice. The first is the collecting of the bones. Which often means a long walk full of contemplation, reflection, and working through the riddles and emotional impact.
The second is the inscription on the bone, the mark that give the demon a name and physical form. A kind of sympathetic magic that manifests the demon into something corporeal - from thought and emotion to a physical object.
The placement of the bone into the Urn is a transgressive phase, symbolic of not only “letting go” but the physical action of doing so. The act itself being the key.
The channeling of the energy associated with the bone is done by placing the right hand over the mouth of the Urn and forcing the negativity through the mouth, and forcing the energy to maelstrom within the container in a counterclockwise flow the draws the energy downward to the bottom of the Urn like a whirlpool.
The stopper on the Urn of Shades is white. A symbol of purity and light always above the demons and challenges of life. By placing the stopper after the working it is symbolic of overcoming the negativity and locking it away, out of the body and soul, along with all of the spiritual toxins that come with it.
If the Urn of Shades should ever be filled the process of “emptying the bottle of bad” includes the pouring out and burning of the bones. Once burned the ashes are then sprinkled with white sage and buried.
By Angel Snowden
